Get over your brand
Steve Safran April 16th, 2007
When I was producing and I didn’t feel like adding a story right before a show, all I had to say was “it will destroy the flow,” and I wouldn’t have to add it. Nobody questioned this statement. It made no sense, but it sounds like something you’re supposed to say, and it sounds like something you’re supposed to agree with. The web equivalent excuse is “it doesn’t fit with our brand.” Lost Remote often suggests starting lots of sites - niche sites, local search, blogs and all kinds of online programming. Those who are less than inclined to do so dismiss the idea by saying “it doesn’t fit with our brand.” I have no idea what this means. Another variation on the theme is “It will dilute our brand.” I have no idea what this means, either. Get over your brand. You’re not in the brand business - you’re in the production and sales and overall making money business. The web is not TV. Having a cool local entertainment site doesn’t “dilute” you any worse than having “Judge Judy” dilutes the brand of your newscast. It’s another form of programming. Besides, “NBC17″ is not a brand - it’s a set of instructions.
4 Comments Add your own
1. Dave | April 16th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Sorry Steve, NBC17 is a set of instructions, a product identifier, a product differentiator; thus, making it a brand (whether you like it or not). It even incorporates another brand: NBC. Technically, everyone is in the “brand business” because branding is a modern marketing philosophy (subjective) and technique. I agree NBC17 is a weak brand compared to Coke, Target, Google, Abercrombie & Fitch, MTV Networks.
My view is that the “it doesn’t fit with our brand” statement essentially means “It doesn’t fit with our core business model”, which is local news.
I think you should rename this article from “get over your brand” to “rethink your business model”. The point is local TV needs to move beyond selling one, core, single product (local news) and become a multi-product (local news, sports, entertainment, etc) seller on multiple platforms (tv, web, wireless). I always use the General Mills analogy: They don’t just sell Cherios. They sell Cherios, Chex, Wheaties, etc…
2. Safran | April 16th, 2007 at 8:22 am
Thank you, Dave, for that great and thoughtful rebuttal. Let me clarify/respond.
In this model, NBC17 thinks it’s a local news station. Everything on its website has to be local news. Anything that isn’t “distracts from the brand.” That’s the general argument.
Except that NBC17 has programming all day long that isn’t news. “Oprah” doesn’t distract from the brand.
So, in fact, NBC17’s brand is local information. They need to get that information out on as many platforms as possible, in as many ways as possible. They need to stop thinking they’re just “the news station” and think they are the best local information provider. THAT’s a great brand.
Core business model thinking holds back stations from getting creative online. You suggest that the core business model of NBC17 is local news, but If the NBC is the brand, that’s a problem because that doesn’t say “news” any more than the other network call letters.
So, yes - rethink the business model, absolutely. But do not, as part of the process, get trapped by thinking what will or will not “reinforce” the brand of TV. The Coca-Cola company doesn’t marketing campaign for Sprite and think “This message is inconsistent with what Coke drinkers expect.”
3. aidian | April 16th, 2007 at 11:02 am
“you’re in the production and sales and overall making money business”
No.
Fuck No.
I’m in the serving the public to make sure they have the information they need to be self-governing business. I hope you are, too.
Personally, I make more per hour when I work occasional weekends for my friend’s construction business than I do working in local news. I do what we do because I believe that it’s important for the public good. (And because it’s rarely dull.)
If I was in “the production and sales and overall making money business” I’d be in a) creative services, b) PR and corporate comm., or c) selling crack to third graders. If I couldn’t get any of those honest jobs, I’d try and get a job in managment.
I hope that was just a slip of the keyboard, Safran. Because the last thing we need is another person who thinks of us as content providers for their advertising supported distribution platforms.
I’m aware that most people look to us for the weather and last night’s lotto numbers, but that doesn’t change the fact that what we do is incredibly important — on our good days we are a vital part of a functioning democracy; on our bad days, at least we get the five day right.
I try and always look at it like this: I owe the company 40 hours a week until my contract expires. But I have a duty to the citizens we serve. There’s a difference. I would suggest that if you feel diferently, you’ve been in management too long.
Rant over; enjoy RTNDA/NAB.
4. Safran | April 16th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Aidan: Excellent diatribe, my man! Of course we’re important. Of course we’re in the business for the public good. You didn’t see me write “stop doing the damn news,” did you?
What I’m saying here is that TV stations are about more than news. There is other programming on. There should be other programming on the station’s web, too. The stations have to stop being limited by thinking their website is only their news. There are plenty of great ways to serve the community.
When I suggest building local search and local portals, I hear “that’s not our brand.” But that’s exactly the kind of information people need to be in the self-governing business as you rightly put it. People need entertainment information, too. Build a great local entertainment site. News? No. Terrific local information? Absolutely.
TV news people are not in the same business as TV station executives, so let me clarify that. My focus is on them - they are the ones who need to think beyond the brand, beyond the news and think about what the community wants. The web is its own entity. People are the brand.
Still, your reply was so good I’ll even let the “fuck” stand as is…
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